Bob Diamond is a former chief executive of Barcalys and founder of Atlas Merchant CapitalReuters

Bob Diamond sees the eurozone as a "compelling" target for investment and does not think its attractiveness has been hurt by the Ukraine crisis.

The former Barclays chief said the asset management firm he founded, Atlas Merchant Capital, is "very focused on the eurozone".

In response the Ukraine crisis, the European Union (EU) has imposed economic sanctions on Russia. Some fear this will hurt the continent's economy because of the Russian money and gas on which it partly relies.

And some are concerned that the troubles in Ukraine will spill over to other European states if Russia decides to advance further with its military as part of a grander plot to partially re-build the defunct Soviet Union.

Diamond was asked on Fox Business Network whether he thought the Russia-Ukraine situation is affecting investing in Europe.

"Well it will certainly impact investing in eastern Europe for the present time, but I think the opportunity in the eurozone is equally compelling and I don't think that's directly impacted by these moves," Diamond said.

He said many banks in the currency area are "struggling to get out of businesses that are subscale or unprofitable" as they try to pull capital out of investments and back into their home markets.

Diamond also said the banks are offloading their investments in order to bolster capital in light of stricter regulatory rules that demand a bigger capital buffer.

That is why Atlas sees the opportunity to invest in the eurozone by taking majority positions at firms amid the mass sell-off.

"We can be not just investors, but operators as we acquire partial businesses and whole businesses as the banks focus more on getting scale in their home market," he said.

The eurozone financial sector is still struggling to recover from a banking crisis that nearly caused the break-up of the currency union.

Only in 2014 is the eurozone economy showing signs that it is embarking on a tentative recovery.

Diamond was chief executive of Barclays until 2012 when he resigned amid the Libor scandal engulfing the bank.

Barclays was fined £290m by US and UK financial regulators after it emerged some of the bank's traders had tried to manipulate Libor, a key benchmark rate.